Recombinant Interferon Alfa-2b or PEG-Interferon Alfa-2b in Treating Patients With Melanoma Undergoing Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy

Inclusion Criteria

• Primary melanoma with the following Breslow thickness and stage: * =< 2 mm * Patients with recent (within 12 weeks) biopsy of primary melanoma that has not been widely resected will be eligible for study according to the above-specified criteria for tumor thickness and stage; if more than one biopsy was done for the primary melanoma, the window of 12 weeks will be counted from the date of the last surgery
• Patients must have documented hemoglobin level of 10g/dL or higher
• Normal organ function tests including blood urea nitrogen (BUN)
• Normal organ function tests including Creatinine
• Normal organ function tests including aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT)
• Normal organ function tests including Bilirubin
• Negative urine pregnancy test (negative serum confirmatory pregnancy test if urine test is positive)
• Subjects must have provided written, informed consent prior to any study procedures: collection of blood and lymph node (LN) tissue specimens for this protocol

Exclusion Criteria

• Serious illnesses, such as: cardiovascular disease (uncontrolled congestive heart failure, hypertension, cardiac ischemia, myocardial infarction, severe cardiac arrhythmia), bleeding disorders, autoimmune diseases, severe obstructive or restrictive pulmonary diseases, active systemic infections, inflammatory bowel disorders, severe renal disease
• Any significant psychiatric disease, medical intervention, or other condition, which in the opinion of the principal investigator or co-investigators, could prevent adequate informed consent or compromise participation in the clinical trial
• Active infection requiring parenteral antibiotics within one-week prior to study
• Systemic steroid (except inhaled steroids) or other immunosuppressive therapy administered for more than 10 days within 4 weeks of enrollment